I never went to summer camp as a camper because my family couldn't afford it, but in college, I spent two summers as a counselor at Camp Kittatinny in Dingman's Ferry, PA. (It has since moved to Barryville, NY.)

One thing I learned is that when you're responsible for children's well-being, some will tell you stories about their home life that will break your heart. Some may be bullied, and it's up to you to recognize and stop it. There may even be some campers who won't like you for no other reason than they don't want to be there.

On the other hand, you're actually getting paid (not much) to play sports, make friends, eat lots of pizza and have fun. You may even become a role model to some campers, making a positive impact in their lives. When a camper hugs you at the end of the summer, tells you that you were the reason he enjoyed camp, and he hopes to see you next summer, whatever the negatives may have been, even the bugs and mosquitoes, were all worth it.

I assume every overnight camp has at least one night when campers go somewhere in the woods and camp out in a tent, just like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I have to admit that my idea of camping has always been a hotel room without cable TV but at least with wine. Now that is hardship, at least for my family members.

But when in Rome... So my boys and I told stories about our favorite (and least favorite) teachers, one or two ghost stories and then settled into our tent for the night.

It was then that the rain started. By around midnight, the rainwater had made its way into the bottom of our tent. Soon, we were trying our best to sleep in a puddle of wet misery. The wind became so strong that the stakes holding the tent down came loose. One side of the tent flew up. The only thing that seemed to be keeping the tent from flipping over and flying away was the weight of our bodies. This wasn't what we signed up for.

And it rained for hours! No campfire to warm up; mud was everywhere. And if the weather wasn't bad enough (back then, in the Middle Ages, we didn't have countless meteorologists, as TV stations all do today, predicting every detail of every minute of the next week's or more weather), that night we were visited by a fully grown bear. Most of our food was consumed by this bear – who could have used a few classes on table manners.

Since parents were paying serious money to send their children to camp, you had to make sure every single camper went home with some kind of plaque, blue ribbon or other certificate or award: the best swimmers, boat rowers, archers, best dining table etiquette, best singers, actors, musicians, prettiest legs, or the best basketball players. I wouldn't have been surprised if there had been an award for the best tooth flosser or the biggest toenails.

Although I'm sure every kid who won an award was thrilled to get it, I found most of them rather pedestrian, so I came up with my own contest. I asked the campers in my bunk to come up with a joke, and the one I thought was the best would get a cup with his name and "Best Joke of the Summer" engraved on it. (I even paid for the cup.) These jokes didn't have to be original, of course. They could even be something they heard from a family member, a teacher, or a TV show.

Naturally, since the campers were young boys, a few of the jokes had language that wasn't ready for prime time. Others were just silly. But a boy named Billy came up with the best by a few hundred yards, in my not-necessarily humble opinion:

"A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and inquired of his father as to when they would discuss his use of the car. His father said he'd make a deal with his son: 'You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible and get your hair cut. Then we'll talk about the car.' The boy thought about that for a minute and then agreed to the deal.

"After about six weeks the father said, 'Son, you've brought your grades up, and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible. But I'm very disappointed that you haven't had your hair cut.' The boy said, 'You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair.'

"The father then said, 'Son, did you also notice that they walked everywhere they went?'"

Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com